Except. Ah, yes, there has always got to be an EXCEPT...
You see I have an Ebay Store (link on side bar) I pay each month for that privilege, I also pay an insertion fee, an extra picture fee - anything you want even a pretty border is an extra fee. But wait, it's not over....when you finally get your item sold...hell, you have to pay an "end of item fee, a percentage based on the value that you received". Oh, you say Ebay has to make money too? Sure, but it's still not over...Ebay owns Paypal...people pay by Paypal...they deduct a percentage of whatever the item price is too. My last monthly "usage" bill just from Ebay was $329.00 -
Now Ebay has decided to "reduce" some of the listing fees. Hooray, right? WRONG! On the tail end of everything they increased the percentages for the final valuation. Like we sellers aren't capable of doing any math. On one hand you giveth and the other hand you taketh away...people are mad.
There is talk of a boycott of Ebay by certain sellers, people are signing petitions, they are searching for other places to sell their wares. Unfortunately, I do not know of anything that come close to what Ebay has become. It's a shame that they are killing off the very people that helped make them so huge for all these years. But money can do that. Greed by all means.
There is more to this than just the money too for the sellers. Ebay has decided to become like Big Brother and police their sellers with a hard hand. I guess they figured since their stock took a dive it must be due to something that we sellers are doing wrong? Idiots. Well, they've decided to implement a policy where the sellers cannot defend themselves against a bad buyer, and are not to be allowed to warn anyone else about a buyers bad behavior either. The feedback process was supposed to work both ways...so you could judge whether you were dealing with a reputable person or not. Now we will only be "allowed" to leave "good" feedback for buyers only. The buyer on the other hand can leave either.
I've been on the receiving end of some crazy people out there in Ebay land, where I had postal proof of mailing, and receipt and the people still claimed they did not receive the plants. Make you a sure bet if I visited their garden I would find a whole dam row of my plants growing now.
They are going to police how fast you mail out, how much you charge for postage (this of course right after the post office raised their rates) what kind of feed back you get and if it isn't good they are going to penalize sellers by not rotating them on promotions to get people to their sites. In other words, when you do a search they will just block out whoever they feel is not up to "par".
Oh, that's a good thing right? Get rid of the rotten apples? No, they are so loose with their reasons...they can do it if you don't have 100% feedback...hell, after 1100 sales dealing with the public I don't have 100%....I'm like 99.3 - folks there are people out there that no matter how nice you treat them they will screw with you.
I don't know how many of you have bought stuff on Ebay or even sold there, but I feel a little better just venting about it...thank you for bearing with me.
This whole episode is reminiscent of when AOL put the ads up and we had that mass exodus...I don't know how many will leave Ebay...time will tell.
Oh, if any of you need jewelry or plants for J-landers I will discount .20% just let me know.
8 comments:
We've sold a few things on Ebay, and bought quite a few. Honestly, it makes me a nervous wreck to sell there. Besides, we have better luck selling on Craigslist. It's free. And I'll bet it's part of the reason Ebay is having problems.
I used to sell jeans and t-shirts on eBay. I finally stopped because my bottom line is always thinner than what I paid in fees. I also had a couple of people who claimed they did not get the merchandise and Paypal refunded them their money even though I have mail confirmations and other evidence that these people are lying. Oh well...
I recently got that e-mail stating that eBay restructured the fees in favor of the seller. I did not even bother to read it because I have no intention of going back.
Hugs and prayers to you and yours.
Dee
What about those E-bay stores that are popping up everywhere? We have one here, now. I've yet to go in... LOVE what you have pictured here. Trouble...I see trouble...hehehe. ;) C.
I used to sell car parts on line and let me tell you I finally said no way it is too much of a hassle .
hugs
Sherry
i had no idea ebay made it so hard on the sellers. makes me want to boycott them, too.
you have some gorgeous jewelry!
Corporate greed at it's finest.
Until someone creates another avenue for sellers, like you, to venture over too, they will probably continue to add, distract, fudge, hide, and stuff their pockets. Exactly like AOL did to everyone, except I would say this is much worse, it's taking away from your income.
Of course, the facts are, when costs go up for a business, ultimately it's the buyer that pays. Hopefully you can add some of the additional costs to your buyers. Trickle down effect.
And lastly, I think not being able to leave negative feedback for horrid buyers is downright ridiculous. It's an honor system, but if you can't tell the truth, the system becomes worthless.Hang in there~~
Now, I do have to ask, how in the world do you sell such pretty things? I would have such a hard time giving up gorgeous jewelry :o) I really adore sparkly things, diamonds are extremely sparkly and well, I claim pure female here.
I luv em!
Rebecca
I don't do e~bay and by what you have said I don't think I ever will ~ your jewellery is beautiful ~ Ally x
Hello there, I've been doing eBay since January 1999. 99% of my transactions have been good ones. Every once in awhile you run across a flake. But I guess that can happen anywhere. You have some lovely items for sale. I'm considering the garnet (my birthstone) cross. I also have my eBay site in my sidebar as well as my Avon website. Linda in western Washington state
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